


Running mate (or “In the Dark”)

by Fibi94



Series: Universe Echo [3]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 08:03:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15456879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/pseuds/Fibi94
Summary: My take of episode 2x14, only with Alex there and some nuggets here and there.





	Running mate (or “In the Dark”)

Alex opens the door to Tom’s private study and finds him banging his head on his desk; he didn’t pay attention to her standing there, and she started getting worried when he wouldn’t stop banging his head “Tom?” she tries to get his attention almost ready to call Mike standing just outside the office to stop Tom from giving himself a concussion. He looks up there’s a look of anger frustration and relief in his eyes “Thank god I thought it was Emily.” She chuckles and walks closer sitting on the desk next to him.

“Why avoiding Emily?” she asks, “She made me look for a VP” Alex bites her lip hard trying not to laugh “Did you find one?” she asks him.

“Senator Alexander wants to move into my office, Governor Sinclair is a walking rubber stamp and congressman Sharp wants to take a blowtorch to my entire agenda, what do you think?” he leans back to his chair seeing Alex winch “Yeah I ‘d take that as a no.”

“Yeah.” He murmurs closing his eyes, “I think Emily is losing her edge by the way.” Alex points out, she was surprised that so far all the candidates Tom has mentioned were all white guys in the late fifties early sixties. He looks at her curiously “Why?” he asks, “Well Tom, three candidates so far they’re all white men in their late fifties or early sixties don’t you see a problem with that?” she asks him crossing her arms over her chest.

“Emily said I should look for experience in the VP someone that down the line could give me more credibility and sadly most people with experience are white middle aged men. I don’t like it but it is what it is.” He says Alex can tell he’s getting touchy with the subject but her stubbornness doesn’t allow her to let it go. “What about your principals Tom? What about having someone you trust for your vice president it’s not like the vice president is the only person in your cabinet you can’t fire or something.” She bites the inside of her cheek trying to stop herself, she had promised him and her therapist that she would try not to be so confrontational and she had done it in the past month and a half but she couldn’t. She sees him smirking and is taken aback, “I was wondering when you’re going to break and tell me off.” He says chuckling.

“Fuck you.” She tells him hitting him with the folder on his desk smiling widely.

* * *

 

Kendra was sitting in the break room eating her lunch when she sees Emily and Seth walking in  they seemed to be having an important conversation and doesn’t want to intrude but soon after Seth storms off and Emily is standing there, hands over her chest, she turns and her eyes fall on Kendra, who waves her to come over.

“Hey Kendra.” Emily says sitting on the free chair to Kendra’s left. “Problems in paradise?” Kendra jokes nodding towards the direction where Seth had just left “Kinda,” she doesn’t say anything else and Kendra doesn’t really want to push it further so she returns to her salad. “How’s the hunt for a VP is going?” she asks, she heard of the frantic tries to get the president to settle on a vice president and potential running mate but other than vetting the potential candidates she wasn’t in the room when the meetings happened. “Oh it was lovely, he hated them all.” Emily says, rolling her eyes, Kendra can’t say she was surprised she looked through all three of them and to her none looked like a good enough match for Tom Kirkman, that man was quirky, nerdy and an idealist above all, these men she had to vet were either too invasive and headstrong or pushovers, none of them was ready to actually be the second in comment to someone else, they wanted to be number one on a ticket and not tie themselves to what they clearly thought was a lame duck president. Kendra bites her lip though trying not to say anything, she wasn’t that close with Emily to tell her exactly what she thought about her choices, but she was worried about the president choosing the wrong person for the job.

“Anyway I got to go I have to find Lyor.” Emily says, she gets up and walks to the door, her turkey sandwich untouched, not even out of its wrapper yet.

* * *

 

Tom walks in the oval office about the same time as Trey barges in, he’s wearing his visitor’s badge and holding a bottle of wine Tom’s sure he stole from the winery probably driving everyone working in the kitchen mad.

“You invite me to lunch then you stand me up, like you’re the busiest guy in the world.” Tom keeps shuffling through his papers, he had totally forgotten that he had asked Trey to join him and get lunch together. “Trey I’m so sorry, I’ll call the kitchen tell them to prepare some grilled ribs for us.” Tom says walking to his brother.

Trey sits down on the couch and points the bottle to his chest, “Tell me who killed J.F.K. and it’s all forgiven.” Tom chuckles, this was the question of the week apparently since it was the sixth time Trey had asked him about the Kennedy assassination, “You’ll have to work your way up to that.” Tom tells him taking the bottle of wine from his hands examining the label carefully.

“You can stay late tonight, I can arrange transportation to take you back to the city if you want.” Tom doesn’t want to admit it but he hates the idea that Trey will move back to New York and after today who knows when will be the next time he’ll see him. “I wouldn’t worry about that, I’m moving to D.C.” he says with a large smile on his lips.

Tom is shocked, “Seriously?” he asks exited, “So you worked everything out?”

“Yup!” Trey says proudly. “They told me not to let the door hit me on the ass on my way out.” He jokes, Tom groans “Trey! I’m so sorry.”  Tom says looking at his brother’s unwavering smile, “Nah, I needed a change!” Trey insists, he knows his brother very well to know that right about now he’s feeling guilty that he had to lose his job to stay closer to him and Alex and the kids (and Kendra but he won’t admit it).

“Well wanna be Vice President?” Tom asks standing up and walking back to his desk, he places the bottle on the top and picks up the phone to call the kitchen, looking up he looks at his brother looking at him curiously, “Depends, do I actually have to do anything?”

* * *

 

“So glad you are staying.” Tom says to his brother, Trey smirks into his food, this show of affection is not something he’s used to and he just waits for something to happen to ruin everything.

“How much wanna bet Alex will be creped out when she finds us having a candle light dinner?” Trey says trying to change the subject, he makes a joke feeling much more comfortable in that area rather than actually talking feelings, Tom rolls his eyes but there’s a smirk on his lips “I should have known.” He murmurs.

“Known what?” Trey asks, it makes Tom look up from his stake, his fork in his mouth as he looks almost dumbfound at his brother “That you’d ruin a solemn moment!” Tom is still smirking seeing his brother’s proud smile “My specialty!”

“Did you know when the Washington monument was build it was the tallest man made structure in the world?” Tom asks after the two of them eat in silence for a while, Trey rolls his eyes, this was going to be one of those dinners, “Did you know you could brew beer out of bananas?” Tom looks up from his plate, “That’s more interesting.” He says returning to his plate, looking at the clock above Trey’s head he wonders where Alex is and how come she’s not back from the office yet, it’s almost 9 am and it’s probably the first time in a little over a year that he’s home before her.

“Yeah.” The lights tremble for a bit and then turn off, “What the hell was that?” Trey asks putting his glass of wine down. The generators kick in soon after and the lights turn on again Tom returns to his food murmuring “Must have been some power outage, generators just kicked in.” and he stands up walking to the window and to his surprise and terror he sees section after section of the city losing power, all the lights that were so familiar going dark. “Son of a bitch.” He murmurs under his breath, he’s not sure what that might mean but it’s really worrying. 

* * *

 

Alex decided to take the stairs, her leg wasn’t bothering her today, it was surprising given that she usually has to swap her heels for flats in the middle of the day most of the time now, she’s walking up the stairs chatting with her agent, a woman named Melinda who was in her detail almost from day one as well when the lights flutter and for a moment shut down, “What the hell?” she murmurs under her breath “Ma’am we need to get you to the residence as soon as possible” Melinda says taking her arm and leading her up the stairs in a much faster pace.

* * *

 

It’s not long after that Mike barges in the room “Sir, lights are out throughout the capitol, I’ll get the mayor the police chief and the public service chief to come here immediately.” Tom turns around “Thank you Mike.” Tom starts walking towards the door Mike came but stops turning around and looking at his brother sipping his wine looking at the situation unfold silently, “Trey I’m gonna have to take a-“

“Rain check.” Trey says “Yeah sorry!” Tom offers over his shoulder as he disappears. He stops at the door once again, turning around facing Trey “Mind staying here until Alex comes back from the office?” he asks, Trey lets the glass down “Don’t even mention it.” Tom smiles and follows Mike fast to the staircase, secret service not allowing him to use the elevator during any case of emergency.

He gets to the staircase and sees Alex there “What happened?” she asks him puzzled “I saw the lights going off did the generators kicked in?” Tom nods “Yeah power’s out throughout the city, Trey’s in the east sitting hall. I gotta go” he gives her a short kiss on the lips ad follows Mike frantically down the stairs to the west wing leaving Alex watch him from the top of the staircase.

She stands there looking at him disappear for a moment before turning around and walking to the east sitting area.

Alex walks in the room and sees Trey sitting on the table he’s playing with his food it makes her smirk remembering how Tom always plays with his food as well, “Hey. Kids are asleep?” she asks letting her briefcase down on the arm chair.  Trey looks up “Yeah. Tom just left.”

“Yeah I know.” She sits down on the seat Tom was using before seeing his plate nearly untouched, “Have any more of this wine you’re drinking?”She asks him taking Tom’s untouched glass in her hands.

* * *

 

Kendra will never admit it to anyone but she’s surprised at how much smoother things run with Aaron on the wheel, even having to do two jobs she has to admit he’s amazing at making sure everything works on point around the west wing.

She knows he used to be the chief of staff before Emily and now she can see why the president might have chosen him before Emily, he was focused, organized and no nonsense, she wondered if he would ever step back on the help given how less drama they seem to have even being in the middle of an emergency with the city on the verge of anarchy.

* * *

 

“Hey, where’s Alex?” Tom barges in the room he is surprised to see just Trey there sitting on the couch with his feet up the coffee table. “Had to make some calls,” Tom nods, he knew that Alex wouldn’t stay put with the blackout going on hour two. “I’d take my feet off of the coffee table if I were you; she threatened to decapitate me when I did it last week.” He says smirking as he walks towards Penny’s bedroom, “I came to see how Penny is doing and tell her goodnight.” He says mindlessly, “She’s down!” he says. Tom stops at his tracks “Down? Ate all her veggies, did her homework?” he asks, he knows his brother and if there was one thing he was sure of was that he had a soft spot for his niece and he can get Alex to agree to let him handle the kids a little too easy for Tom’s taste. It’s not that he’s not good with them because he’s great it’s just that Tom would rather he was a little more disciplined.

“Did it all, checked her homework, ate dinner and I tucked her in with a bottle of tequila.” Tom narrows his eyes looking at his brother smirking mischievously. “Fine, I didn’t check her homework, Alex did.” Trey says still smirking, “Good.”

Tom doesn’t spend much time there, Trey asks him how is it going and he tells him but he’s on his way out the door soon after that “Will call you when Penny and I break into Langley!” Trey yells at him, Tom can’t stop the smile rising on his lips “Don’t get caught!”

* * *

 

Aaron looks at his watch this is nearing hour three and he knows as well as everyone in the building that the longer the blackout goes on the more the chaos would be, he is terrified that lives will be lost and people will be hurt if this doesn’t end soon but he realizes there’s not much he can do to change it other than make sure he keeps the ship afloat and advices the president to the best of his ability.

He looks outside wondering where Hannah might be and what she might be doing, she mentioned something about Damian being in possible danger by the Russians but the connection was really bad and he lost most of it, he’s worried and no matter how much he tries to hide it he can’t.

* * *

 

 “Done your important first lady phone calls?” Trey asks Alex as soon as she walks in the living room. “Yeah, my chief of staff was caught in traffic she’s on her way back to the White House by foot, we’ll see to the strategy then.” She reaches for her wine glass and takes a sip “Strategy?” Trey asks “First Ladies strategize about power outages?” Alex smirks before answering “No, but I do.”

“Damn straight!”

* * *

 Tom walks in the residence, he finds Trey and Alex watching the news, his wife has his brother act as her secretary, it’s a weird scene but amusing none the less “I’m sorry to interrupt your work here but the mayor and I decided to visit the communities affected the worse,” Alex looks up from the laptop screen and smiles, Tom notices the bottle of wine the butler opened is now empty and wonders how drunk his wife and brother might be, knowing Alex she’s barely tipsy, knowing Trey he’s one step from seeing fairies, “You need me to come with you?” she asks, “Would be nice.”

She smiles, “I’ll go change in more warm clothes.” She says getting up and walking to the master bedroom, “I need to get my coat” Tom murmurs and follows her closely behind, “Don’t screw each other in there, I can hear you!” Trey tells them.

Tom peaks through the door, just flipping him off before disappearing in the room once again, Trey’s laugh heard through the closed door.

* * *

 

“What were you working on with Trey when I came in?” Tom asks Alex as soon as they are seated in the car with the mayor sitting across from them the woman seems to be intrigued but tries not to overhear, she doesn’t want to be nosy but she can’t deny that the Kirkmans are a weird bunch from all she has seen.

“I organized with my staff to get them to the shelters needing volunteers for the night and until the power comes back on and also arranged with some recourses like baby food, water and warm meals to be delivered there straight from the White House kitchens.” She says smiling, Ellenor looks at her with her eyes wide open “Sir, I think your wife just showed both of us off.” She says. Tom chuckles “Welcome to my life.” He leans over to Alex and places a kiss on her cheek “Thanks.” He whispers.

* * *

 

They were standing in front of the city hall, Tom and Ellenor were giving a speech, Alex with Christopher, Ellenor’s husband were talking with the people, when the lights flicked back on, there were cheers people crying and screaming from happiness, Alex climbs up the stairs and gets to Tom who spontaneously picks her up and spins her around, a happy carefree laughter comes from his lips, they both see the flashing of the cameras as they kiss but they don’t really care that much. Right now they are too happy to care.

Not long after that the secret service leads them back to the car, Tom leans towards Ellenor “Mind coming back to the White House?” he asks her, the woman is shocked and Alex is biting the inside of her cheek so hard it almost bleeds, she knows very well why Tom wants Ellenor to follow them back to the White House and she can’t say she’s opposed to it.

* * *

 

“So?” Alex asks him as soon as he walks through the door, “She said yes.” Tom said exited he fell backwards on the bed bouncing a little as his body hit the mattress, he was delighted surprised he had actually done it, “You finally got a VP?” she asks with a big smile on her face, “I finally got a VP!” Alex laughs and leans forward kissing him, “finally” she says when they pull apart; she can see the smirk on his lips as he sits up “And it’s not a white middle aged man.”

“See you can find experience elsewhere?” she tells him, she knows it’s not that he didn’t know that and if she wanted to drive the message home she should say that to Emily but still, Tom smirks and shakes his head “I’ll make sure I pass your remark to my chief of staff.”

 


End file.
